45 years ago today Syd Barret quit Pink Floyd
April 6th, 2003 by Koldo Barroso
45 years ago today, on the 6th of April 1968, an statement from EMI records announced to the press that Syd Barret was quitting Pink Floyd.
In October 1967 Pink Floyd were forced to cancel the US tour after Syd Barret’s psychological crisis during the band’s appearance on a local ABC TV show. The same episode was repeated twice at other TV shows and finally David Gilmour replaced Syd Barret who was forced to leave the band and was checked into a psychiatric hospital.
Syd Barret recorded two wonderful solo albums after leaving Pink Floyd and by early 1972 he quit music after another onstage crisis episode in Cambridge when he cut badly his hand. Roger Waters later wrote the songs “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” as a tribute to Barret. Surprisingly, Syd Barret appeared out of the blue at Abbey Road studios in June 1975 during the recordings of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” album, after three years of silence. The band didn’t recognize him as he was bald and he had gained considerable weight. He was wandering about the studio muttering nonsense and later he even attended the reception of David Gilmour’s wedding which happened to be that very day.